New Balance is the first major company to support President Elect Donald Trump and sneakerheads may boycott. In a statement released by New Balance VP of Public Affairs to the Wall Street Journal’s Sara Germano, the company said the following:
New Balance: “The Obama admin turned a deaf ear to us & frankly w/ Pres-Elect Trump we feel things are going to move in the right direction”
— Sara Germano (@germanotes) November 9, 2016
Given the polarizing nature of this week’s election, many sneakerheads were angry and took to social media to voice their displeasure. See some of the responses below:
.@newbalance for publicly endorsing a racist, sexist, hate mongering President elect pic.twitter.com/BpXleYQPAS
— J. Su (@jonnnysan) November 10, 2016
Sad day @SoleCollector @NewBalance pic.twitter.com/g3ZSc6ot9a
— YouTube/ndofitness (@stretchd) November 10, 2016
@SoleCollector @newbalance pic.twitter.com/8iYJr7IEEB
— Ta’Quan (@SenseiQuan) November 10, 2016
New Balance quickly went on the defensive and clarified their position today, releasing a statement that read in part:
As the only major company that still makes athletic shoes in the United States, New Balance has a unique perspective on trade and trade policy in that we want to make more shoes in the United States, not less. New Balance publicly supported the trade positions of Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders, and Donald Trump prior to election day that focused on American manufacturing job creation and we continue to support them today.
That’s all well and good and I believe that’s what New Balance intended from the beginning. But what this election has shown us is not the deep divide that exists in this country. Anyone can see that. If you look closely, it is the deep seeded contempt that a large part of the country has for President Obama. Go back and take a look at the original statement released to the WSJ. The statement could have been made without mentioning President Obama, but it wasn’t. Why do you suppose that is?